Blackout
by arborealstops
Summary: Usnavi or Alexander? Alexander Hamilton has been dead for 4 years. Usnavi de la Vega has been in Washington Heights for 4 years. Coincidence? I think not.
1. prologue

"Quietly, quietly now!"

"No shit, Washington, I thought I would purposely knock everything over."

"Don't give me an attitude, Laurens, just get him in there."

"Claudia, could you give me a hand?"

Whispered voices spilled out of a darkened alley in the middle of Basseterre, the capital of St. Kitts and Nevis. Four people were crowded around suspiciously inconspicuous black van. Or, rather, three people were crowded around the back of said van, supporting another person, who appeared to be unconscious. The three people- two men and one woman- were under the impression that they were alone.

They were wrong.

Hiding behind a dumpster was a man that none of them had seen in months. He had his long, dark hair pulled back into a ponytail, and he held a camera just over the edge, only barely capturing the events in front of him. But it was enough.

The man didn't move until the van was gone. He had succeeded in his mission- to find out where that van, and it's cargo, were headed. Now, he just had to report back.

He slowly slid the camera into the pocket of his black jacket and moved out from his hiding place. He glanced both ways before darting off, into the night, leaving only one thing behind:

A purple glove.

 **[a/n: holy heck this is certainly interesting. i'm writing so many different kinds of stories and it's definitely different, but i like it.  
anyway, i was thinking about maybe giving my account a 'theme'? like, making all my covers the same color scheme, and my profile pic and all that, and maybe changing my username? idk. i really like my username right now so probably not, but i kind of want my account to look more put together than it currently does.]**


	2. 1 Nina

_\- 4 years later -_

"Usnavi!"

I sighed, watching the cars drive past the little bodega. Usually, I would be _inside_ the shop by now, but this morning, the doors were still locked and the lights off. Which probably meant that Usnavi had lost power again, and his alarm didn't go off. I groaned, calling his name again, and getting the same response. _Nothing._ Glancing around, I tossed my jacket on the ground in front of the door and jogged to the back of the shop. I smirked as I saw a fresh tag on the wall. _Pete must still be around, then_ , I thought to myself. That was a relief. It was different, being back after six months in California. It was easier to act as though no time had passed, and life was just as it used to be.

Shaking my head, I tore my eyes away from the graffiti and to what I was really back there for. _The fire escape_. I hadn't used Usnavi's fire escape since high school. Granted, that had only been a little over a year ago, but it still brought back memories.

When Usnavi had first moved to the barrio, in my sophomore year, we had bonded immediately. I don't know what it was, exactly, but Usnavi was my best friend. My parents loved him, and he became almost like an older brother to me. He was one of the people I was most excited to see, although I hadn't exactly planned on it going like this.

Carefully, I scrambled up the fire escape. It was rustier than I remembered, but it still held just fine. Maybe I could convince Usnavi to paint it while I was home... I shook my head as I pried Usnavi's window open and fell into his bedroom.

I coughed as I straightened up, then reached over and flipped the lightswitch. _Nothing._ I sighed, then walked over to the lump on the little twin bed, shaking Usnavi awake. He groaned and rubbed his face, and I laughed slightly as he opened his eyes. I had missed this.

Usnavi stared at me for a few seconds, then sat bolt upright. " _Nina?_ "

"You should really oil your window. It took me a good three minutes to get it open."

Usnavi stared at me, eyes wide. "Nina?" he repeated. "What are you doing here?"

I let out a giggle as I sat on the corner of his bed. "Surprise!"

It took him a few more seconds to take it in, but then he tackled me in a hug. "Nina! You're home!"

I laughed as he wrapped me in a tight embrace. "And you're late," I giggled.

He jumped back, and I got my first decent look at him. He was... older. I felt a small pang in my chest. Despite how hard I tried to pretend that no time had passed, I'd been gone for months, and things had changed.

"I'm late?" Usnavi looked around frantically. "What time is it? Where's Sonny? Is he with Pete again?"

Apparently, they hadn't changed _that_ much, though.

"Come on, _hermano,_ let's get you ready. Your power went out... again."

 **[okay so I looked up ages and basically in this setting, Nina is 19, Benny is 20, Usnavi is 21, Vanessa is 20, and Sonny and Pete are 15. Oh, and if I do decide to include Daniela and Carla, they'll be 22 and 19, respectively. I know that's a bit different than their actual ages in the play, but I've got to modify for** _ **shipping purposes**_

 **also, Usnavi isn't even going to learn anything about him being different until at least chapter five because I'm attempting an actual plot development! So Jefferson won't show up for a while.]**


	3. 2 Nina

"Okay, but when's the last time you actually paid your electricity bills?"

Usnavi frowned, and I groaned. "'Navi, you're twenty-one! You've got to keep track of these things."

"I know, I know, it's just that Abuela usually does it... She must've forgotten or something." Usnavi sighed as he poured the coffee grinds into the machine. Thankfully, he had a generator, so the bodega was up and ready for business- two hours late.

I reached around Usnavi and pulled the refrigerator open, hoping for the blast of cool air that usually happens when I open the fridge. It didn't happen. "Usnavi, your fridge broke again."

He cursed under his breath, and I shook my head. "I'll go talk to Abuela, and you find some condensed milk, _si?_ "

Usnavi nodded, still glaring at the refrigerator, and I walked out into the hot sun.

 **[a/n: this is super short, I know, but I really want to work on establishing the characters for a bit? but here's an update for now]**


End file.
